Happy Holidays...let's catch up...

tis the season...i love christmas.

i love decorating the house and keeping the decorations up til mid-january

i love getting together with family and a fire in the fireplace.

i love turning the lights on the tree when i get up in the morning and not turning them off til i go to bed at night.

i love having everyone together and seeing people i don't see any other time of year.

what i don't love is the hectic pressure we put on ourselves to buy gifts and spend money and wrap everything so that we can rip off the beautiful wrapping in ten seconds time.

this year i did a semi boycott on what i don't like and it was good. less was definitely more and there really was peace on earth...well marina pacifica at least.

i am so blessed.

i have an amazing life.

i live in an incredible place (s).

i have fabulous friends.

i am part of an absolutely fabulous family.

i am so lucky.

i am so blessed!

thank you!!

Visiting friends...

well off we go to visit Bill and Marti Foster in Lake Arrowhead. friends we haven't spent time with in a long time..well, actually ever...except for the occasional dinner or party. i'm really looking forward to just hanging and chatting and viewing life from a different angle.

then on sunday afternoon, we can see Steve and Karen Snow...good friends from way back in the days of young children, early amway, and Stevie single. different lives actually. our perspective of life as it should be was so different. our kids were young, we were young and we thought we knew what we wanted and where we were going...and had all the time in the world to get there.

well, time has a way of sneaking up and rushing past if you don't keep your eye on it, you can miss so much.

i don't want to miss anything now that i'm older and more appreciative of it...but i still squander moments and let time leak out of my days...

time with friends...

i'm looking forward to it....can't wait, actually....

Later...

i have been procrastinating a lot lately.

i'll have more time tomorrow...then i'll get it done or make that call or visit mom or work more.

but that open day just seems to elude me...

i guess i'll have to do it today.

just one more cup of coffee while i read this article....then i'll get to it....

haallllooooo...anybody there?

i feel like have been lost...and i can't find me anywhere.

under the bed, in the back of the closet, next to the bookcase...under the rug?

hmmm, where could i be?

haallooooo...is anybody there?

Family and friends....

July is always a busy month...this year it is crazy! Camp Noonan!

the family arrives about the 30th of june...well almost the whole family. dave and kate and the kids are in the middle of moving to chicago so this year is not a good time. also, cynthia had to cancel because of work and ryan is in so korea.




but laci brought his boat to wisconsin....yikes, that was a job. they brought one of the wave runners too...more toys for the water. what a blast we had!! a whole week of fun and water and wave running, wake boarding, water skiing, kayaking, and sailing. fun at camp noonan!!



at night we had camp fires and pontoon rides and s'mores.


kelly could only come for 4 days so monday morning she heads back to LA. i so wish i could head back with her for her premiere on tuesday nite, but, the "girls" are coming on wednesday and i don't want to be late when they arrive. so, two days of laundry, and clean up...and i'm still not quite ready...

karel, dorothy, and arleen arrive and we're on our way to the cabin. we had fun in the sun. a few days of wind and cooler weather but all in all a fun time for everyone!!

friday was a little cold and windy, and took an evening pontoon ride. and the sky clouded over and the wind came up again...!! we hurried back to the cabin, put the boat away and turned on the tv to find out about the storm....tornado warning!! off to the basement we went to wait out the storm. what an exciting weekend!
we headed out for a road trip on saturday!! almost 700 miles by the time it was over....to frank lloyd wrights spring green house....amazing place, tons of history and drama!! then on to a bookstore that karel and i had heard about on cbs sunday morning. it was essentially a farmer and his book hoarding wife that had over a million books on this little farm in the middle of wisconsin...what a trip!! sweet people and very interesting story. over twelve bldgs. full of books. nothing is catagorized so there are vague catagories and lots of piles...everywhere... and we only visited two bldgs. we made it back for a late dinner and a couple of bottles of wine. whew!!

the next day wanda and her friend cindy came in from minneapolis! it was rather windy so we went down to new richmond to hear the Dweebs!! fun time...then to the bowling alley for a little knocking down of the pins...then back for a pontoon ride with lots of munchies...we kinda skipped over dinner altogether tonite...oops!!





i had to head back to LA a day early this year. that gave me time to check on mom and roger before heading out again with marty. mom is not doing too well. i can see a significant change in her in just the 3 weeks that i have been in wisconsin. roger tries to keep up with her care but elizabeth and i both think that we will have to get in more help for him/her. i will be back on the 22nd and i think that we will definitely need to make changes. she had a spell last week and needed to go to hoag hospital....then he cancelled the follow-up appointment because he felt she still was not responsive enough...news break, rog, she's only going to get less responsive....poor guy, he has to deal with it daily.

it's hard to lose your mom at any time...i'm not sure what's harder...by bits and pieces or suddenly...none of it is easy. love ya mom!

today is my bro, steve's, birthday...he is officially older than me...teehee! for ten short days, we are the same age. so i always take the time to remind him...he's OLDER! on his birthday...Yay!

love that boy!

may has literally flown by...

i accomplished a lot on my "plan" for the month...spring cleaning was my main concentration.
Dubai was in the plan as well but as plans tend to do...it changed and no Dubai...bummer.

i will go there eventually but for now i need to head to the cabin to get ready for our summer fling. i'm so excited, it will be a fabulous summer. i only wish everyone could come and have some "lake time".

i need it for sanity's sake.

focus!